Every Moment Counts
by SARAH DB
Summary: Brady looks back on his life and the choices that have lead him to the second most important moment in his life. One-shot.


Brady one-shot: Every Moment Counts 

As Brady looked down at the newborn baby sleeping in his arms he wondered how he got here, to this moment. How had all the choices he's made in his life and all the choices that were made for him by fate and others led him here? To this one perfect moment, the second best moment in his life.

* * *

><p>At age five Brady met Collin. His best friend. They meet during the first week of kindergarten.<p>

Brady sat at an out door lunch table, looking sadly at the ground below him, feeling way more sorry for himself than a five year old little boy should. Good thing Collin noticed that and decided to wonder over and see what's wrong.

"Are you okay?" Little Collin asked Little Brady.

"No," Little Brady pouted.

"What's wrong?" Little Collin asked the sad boy.

"I'm hungry; Mommy forgot to pack me a lunch,"

"Want some of mine?" Little Collin asked excitedly, hoping his offer would put a smile on the other boy's face.

Little Collin liked Little Brady and didn't want to see him sad. Little Brady's eyes lit up at the offer and he nodded his head with enthusiasm. Little Collin smiled and sat down next to Little Brady. Little Collin gave Little Brady half of his peanut butter sandwich, half of his granola bar, all his carrots- because Collin didn't like carrots and hated when he was forced to eat them – and half of his cookie. They shared his small carton of milk.

"Thanks!" Little Brady told a Little Collin as they sat side by side after they ate.

"You want to be my new friend?" Little Collin asked after moment of silence.

"Sure," Little Brady agreed.

The two small boys then shook on it and unbeknownst to them was the start of a beautiful friendship. In later years when the two were in high school an older Brady would tell the story of how they meet, telling everyone that Collin had bribed him with food for his friendship, always making an older Collin laugh, and say "Yeah, and it worked pretty well too,"

* * *

><p>At age eight, Brady had his first crush. On Valentines Day as Brady went around his 3rd grade classroom, handing out his store bought Valentine's Day cards he gave an extra special one to Hannah Appleberry. Young Brady thought that her name was weird, but that she was cute. And with her curly, dark hair pulled into pigtails and her pretty pink dress, she captured a Young Brady's attention and his heart.<p>

During recess that day Young Hannah strolled over to Young Brady, who was with a Young Collin, both of them sitting on the same bench that started their friendship. Seeing her approaching Brady told Collin to occupy himself somewhere else, of course he didn't use those words and was much ruder, but still, Young Collin got the point and left the two alone.

"Thank you for the card," Hannah said politely to Brady.

"Uh, you're welcome," Brady stammered back.

They both smiled shyly to one another and then without thinking Brady stood up and kissed her, a quick peck on the lips. Shocked with himself Brady didn't know what to do, so he did what he thought was right and ran away.

That night as Brady went through his Valentines he found a hand made card, seemingly made with extra special care from Hannah, making Young Brady blush wildly. Later on when an older Brady and an older Hannah finally kissed again they would both remember the memory of their very first kiss in that moment.

* * *

><p>At age ten Brady met Carson. Carson Caldwell was Collin's cousin and she was visiting for the summer. At the young age of ten when it wasn't cool to be friends with a girl, a Young Brady decided to befriend her anyways, not caring what the others boys would say.<p>

Brady liked Carson. Brady was captivated by her. He was intrigued with the fact that she looked nothing like his best friend, her cousin. Carson's skin was a few tones lighter than Collin and Brady's, her eyes were a deep green, and her hair was a deep auburn red, and with the small amount of freckles splattering across her nose and cheek bones, Young Brady was amazed, he had never seen anyone who looked like her before.

For the two-weeks that Carson was there for the summer, her, Collin, and Brady spent almost all of their time together. They played tag, hide and go seek, catch, and other games in Collin's backyard. Sometimes they'd walk down to the empty elementary school and play basketball or baseball. Making her even more intriguing to Young Brady was the fact that Carson liked sports. Brady had never met a girl who had liked sports before. By the time Carson's visit was coming to the end, Collin's parents had named the three of them the Three Musketeers and jokingly at time when they would collectively do something wrong or stupid, the Three Stooges. When it came time for Carson to leave Brady was sad to see her go.

"We're friends right?" Young Brady checked as Carson loaded her things into the car, and that was the first time Carson said yes to him.

Young Brady shyly waved to her as the car she was in backed out of the drive-way, on the way to the airport. Even Young Collin, who at first wasn't excited for his cousin to come, waved sadly with a frown on his face as the car disappeared down the road.

Many years later when all three of them were grown, they would look back on this summer and talk about how much fun they had "in the good 'ole days," The days when everything was much simpler, not having been complicated yet.

* * *

><p>At age thirteen Brady's life got more complicated and much more complex than he ever thought possible.<p>

It first started with his best friend. For two weeks Collin was out sick from school, worrying a teenaged Brady, but what worried him more was when Collin would refuse to see him when Brady would come over to see how he was. Confused at teenaged Collin's cool reply, Brady would sulk away, coming back to try and see his best friend again the next day. That was until Brady saw Collin hanging out with Sam Uley and the rest of the "Gang." Angry and confused Brady was now the one to ignore Collin.

Brady knew he couldn't just forget that his best friend had basically ditched him for the "Gang." The same "Gang" that the two of them made fun of, the "Gang" that the Council loved, and the "Gang" that Brady himself would eventually join. A couple weeks later, still angry at Collin for what Brady took as betrayal, Brady couldn't hold his anger in anymore, and one day he snapped. Finding himself with four legs, paws, and fur, teenaged Brady decided that he had gone completely mental.

"You're not mental," Came a voice in his head. And now Brady was hearing voices in his head, which was not normal. This time Brady decided that someone must have slipped him something when he wasn't looking. The voices in his head laughed. Brady thought it was weird that the voices found him amusing.

When teenaged Brady finally calmed down enough, the voices in his head, or Sam Uley and the "Gang" explained to him that the legends were true and that he was a werewolf or shape shifter, depending on what you wanted to be called. They explained everything to him, in great detail making teenaged Brady understand what teenaged Collin had been going through a few weeks prior, causing both young men to have a heart to heart or as close to one as they would ever have and then forgive one another.

Many years later the 'Gang' or the Pack as Brady now refers to them, still gives him shit about his first time phasing, telling him that he really had the most amusing thoughts to listen to out of the rest of the Pack's first time phasing.

* * *

><p>At age thirteen and a half Brady and Collin were guarding their reservation's boarder as the rest of the pack and their neighborhood friendly vampires fought an army of newborn vampires, all because of a stupid little girl.<p>

* * *

><p>At age fourteen Brady stood with the rest of his pack, prepared to fight as they faced off against a whole coven of vampire royalty. The Vampire Mafia, the pack liked to call them, or at least that was what Brady and Collin called them. Relived and partly disappointed when the face-off didn't turn into a fight Brady went home that night with a heavy heart. He grabbed his parents up, gave them a hug, and told them he loved them. Brady was glad he didn't die today.<p>

* * *

><p>At age fifteen Brady went on his first date, with Hannah Appleberry. Weeks before Brady worked around the house, cleaning and fixing things so his parent would give him money to take Hannah out on a date.<p>

Brady took her to a movie and pizza. Brady had fun and decided he really liked her. And as Brady walked Hannah to her door that night, he told her he had a nice time and that he never regretted asking her out, or kissing her when he was eight. Hannah smiled and laughed, a nice sound Brady thought. Brady kissed Hannah for the first time in seven years, that night. And two weeks later Brady was kissing her again, but this time she was officially his girlfriend.

* * *

><p>At age sixteen Brady experienced his first heartbreak. Hannah Appleberry broke up with Brady three weeks into the summer. And still feeling the sting of rejection Brady walked to his best friend's house hoping Collin could cheer him up. But when he got there his whole world changed.<p>

* * *

><p>At age sixteen Brady found his imprint. Carson Caldwell stood in Collin's driveway, unloading boxes from a car. Over the years Brady had kept in touch with Carson. After their first summer together they had a second and third summer together. But the summer that they were thirteen Carson didn't come. Collin's mom told the boys that she was busy. Carson didn't come back for the summer when she was fourteen or fifteen either. And after phasing and seeing the types of danger around town those years, Brady had been glad she stayed away, though he still missed her. They kept in contact, from phone calls, e-mails, letters, and the occasional post-card. But Brady had never seen her in person since they were twelve. Yes, Brady had seen pictures, but a simple picture couldn't do her justice, Brady decided.<p>

Carson was tall, 5'7, Brady guessed. Her lanky build was now athletic. He skin was tanned nicely and in the shorts she was wearing it looked like her toned legs could go on for miles. Carson was older, but so much prettier. No, gorgeous. Brady thought she was gorgeous. Her hair was the same shade as before but was now cut in a current way and styled nicely. When Carson turned Brady saw that she still sort of looked the same. She still had the same freckles, the same eyes, and the same smile. Now though she was wearing make-up, she looked much more mature, and much to Brady's delight, she had breasts. Brady walked closer, never taking his eyes off of her.

When Carson put the box she was carrying down she saw Brady, he had grown she thought, just like her cousin. Carson smiled widely as Brady got closer, and even though they hadn't seen each other in years, they would always be the Three Musketeers, which was why Carson didn't think twice as she ran at him and threw her arms around him in a hug.

As Collin stood in the doorway watching his best friend hold his cousin, he wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. Brady had imprinted on Carson. Collin smiled when Brady's eyes met his and gave him a thumbs up. Later on that day Brady was informed that Carson was going to be living with Collin's family for the remainder of high school as her parents were going through a messy divorce back home in Idaho.

* * *

><p>At age sixteen and a half Brady started dating Carson. Brady remembers clearly the first time he asked her out on a date and she said yes. The first time he asked if he could kiss her and she said yes. The first and only time, he asked her to be his girlfriend and she said yes. The first time they argued and after when she said yes, yes she still wanted to be with him. The first time they made love and after when Brady asked if she was okay, she said yes, she was perfect. Brady remembers when he told her about being a werewolf and imprinting and after the shock wore off Carson told him no for the first time. No, she wasn't afraid. No, she didn't want him to leave her alone. No, she didn't hate him. And then, yes, yes she still loved him.<p>

* * *

><p>At age eighteen Brady graduated from high school with Collin and Carson by his side. Brady then got his first job with Collin as Carson went off to college close by.<p>

* * *

><p>At age twenty Brady asked Carson to move in with him. Since graduating high school he had worked hard and earned good money and owned a nice house. A house he wanted to share with her. Carson had just graduated already from the program she was in at the college and had just found a job. So, like always, Carson said yes to Brady. Yes, she would move in with him. At the time Brady thought he couldn't get any happier.<p>

* * *

><p>At age twenty-two Brady asked Carson to marry him. He planned the whole thing. He made a romantic dinner, got flowers, and lit candles. Then Carson got sick and his plan was ruined. So when he actually proposed he didn't plan.<p>

He just got down on one knee during a commercial as they watched a football game together, and asked her to be his forever, to be his wife. And as Carson stared down at him, shock plain to see in her deep green eyes, Brady prayed that like always she would say yes. Brady didn't think he could handle hearing her say no. Instead of an answer Brady was tackled to the ground as Carson kissed his heatedly. They made love on the couch, with the football game on in the background. Brady took that as a yes, especially when he finally got to slide the ring onto her finger. Brady thought that he couldn't be any happier.

* * *

><p>At ager twenty- three Brady got married. To Carson. He stood at the alter in a nice black suit with Collin by his side as the best man and watched as Carson's father walked her down the aisle. She wore a floor-length silk A- line dress, and Brady had never seen her more beautiful. And when she said I do, Brady didn't think he could ever get any happier than this.<p>

* * *

><p>At age twenty-four Brady learned that he would become a dad. Carson was two months pregnant. Brady picked her up carefully, spun her around and cheered with joy. After setting Carson down Brady raced to the phone and called Collin, informing him that he was going to be an Uncle. Collin laughed.<p>

"Congrats man," Collin said, "I can't believe you knocked up my cousin,"

Brady smiled, "Not your cousin man, my wife."

The two men laughed and talked some more, before having to hang up because Brady's wife was throwing up in the bathroom, and since it was partially Brady's fault that was happening Brady hung up and went to tend to his wife and unborn child.

That night as he laid down in bed next to Carson he scooted down toward her stomach and pulled up her shirt.

"I love you, baby," He whispered sweetly, peppering small kisses on Carson's abdomen. Carson's hands ran threw Brady's hair and he looked up at her. Smiling cheekily Brady scooted back up and whispered to Carson.

"And I love you, baby,"

That night Brady wondered how it was even possible that he could be this happy.

* * *

><p>And now, at age twenty-five Brady had a baby girl. Callie May. He held her securely as he rocked her gently, her eyes fluttered open, they were dark brown just like his, but with a hint of blue like all newborns have, but Brady loved how even though she has his eyes, she looks like Carson everywhere else. From the small tuffs of auburn red hair to the small freckles on her cheeks.<p>

And as Brady thought back on his life, he decided that he was happy with what fate had given him. He was married to the world's most beautiful women- in his opinion- he had a great set of family and friends, he had a good job, and a nice house. And now he had a beautiful baby girl. Brady wouldn't change it for anything.

"She's pretty isn't she?" Carson whispered from the hospital bed. Brady looked up from the chair beside the bed and nodded.

"Just like her momma," He stated. Carson smiled. Brady stood and handed Callie over to Carson.

As Brady gazed down at his wife and daughter, he knew that all those times before when he wondered if he couldn't get any happier, that he could. And he is, he so much happier. Brady decided that yes, this was the second best moment in his life. The first? Well the first moment is all the moments he's spent with Carson. To first seeing her at a young age, to seeing her for the first time all over again, to the fights they've had, and to their wedding. Every moment he spent with her was the best. Brady looked down at Carson and smiled.

"I love you," Carson whispered.

"I love you too," Brady said back softly, before placing a kiss on Carson's lips, and then one on Callie's forehead.


End file.
